Get Honor, Stay Honor, Justice Long As You Can
by sythlar
Summary: Honeymoon sequel to Fall. Filth held together with bits of plot.
1. Preface I

"I told you, you might as well be totally blind on the left side. When are you going to stop pretending that eye works?" Toph extended her sweaty hand downwards.

Zuko reluctantly grasped it and accepted the help up. He'd hit the ground a lot today. "It works fine."

"Can you prove that?" Toph grinned and backed a couple steps away from him, stretching her arms one at a time. "I'm winning every round, so I think I might be right, _buddy_. Might be the better judge of what's going on, _pal_."

The house they were renting for a few weeks was in the wilderness outside of Yu Dao. Their official tour of the town as Firelord and his Lady had ended that morning, when the ship back to the Fire Nation left, taking their very official servants and stewards and allies back to the palace. As far as anyone outside their private circle knew, they were on the ship, too, headed back to the Fire Nation to rule side by side.

But _actually_ , they were dicking around for a couple of weeks first. Literally, Toph hoped.

They'd found their house around lunchtime, and Toph immediately discovered that it had an atrium layout: walls and rooms all around, and a big courtyard in the center. It was perfect for sparring.

"We should take a break," said Zuko. "We haven't even seen the rest of the place."

"I've seen as much as I'm gonna see, Sparky. Besides, a break?" Toph grinned, punching her open palm. "How about you earn it? Fight me, bitch."

"Do I have to be your punching bag?" Zuko sighed, getting back into his firebending stance. "Don't you have students for this?"

"It's not as much fun to beat them up. They're actually _good_."

Zuko groaned.

"It's in both our interests to brush up on our skills, anyway," Toph added more seriously, straightening up and feeling around her pockets for a handkerchief or bandage. She found one, and circled around behind Zuko. "We've been having a lot of reckless sex. You better be prepared to keep a kid safe in the next a year or two."

She felt his heartbeat go crazy when she mentioned having children with him. Since she was standing behind him, she felt free to smile. He was adorable sometimes.

"I'll be ready," he said.

"You'll have to prove it to me." Reaching up, she tied the cloth around his head, making sure it covered both of his eyes. Her fingers lingered on his face, especially when she felt his heartbeat accelerate in a different way. "Well, that's interesting," she smirked, running her hand down his cheek and the side of his neck. "First, let's work on your weak left defense."

"Wait-you can't seriously expect me to fight without seeing. I'm not an earthbender."

"You _are_ gonna fight with it on," she laughed. "Why else would I blindfold you?" Touching his face lightly, she could tell he was blushing from the particular way the heat was distributed. Ha. " We're not going to start out full-force." She pulled away and positioned herself a couple steps in front of him, sinking into her own unconventional stance. "This is a training exercise. Don't firebend. We'll go hand-to-hand."

Without using the earth for anything but sight, Toph was on the defensive. She hadn't quite _forgotten_ how fast and skilled Zuko was with a sword, but she didn't think it would translate so well into hand-to-hand sparring, and she definitely didn't think he'd kept up with his training while stressing out about diplomacy and assassins and paperwork. But when his first move was, ironically, lightning-fast, she barely sidestepped his fist.

"Good," she said breathlessly, taking up a shorter defensive stance, which would allow her to move a little more quickly. "Follow my voice." Another strike; another. "Follow my footsteps." He still favored his right side, but that was probably habit and muscle memory working against him.

She'd picked up a few tricks observing Aang, and she stepped lightly, watching Zuko's attacks grow more confused when she stopped speaking as often. "Alright, stop." They both straightened, but when he tried to take the blindfold off, she smacked his hand.

"Here's what I want you to do: follow the 'hollow' part of the sound. The walls around us echo, but where I'm standing, it'll be dampened, because I'm blocking the sound from coming back to you. Swing your head from side to side. Get the full scope of what you're hearing." She paused for a long moment, letting both of them listen closely to the ambient noise of their temporary home: birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves of trees, animals skittering in the grass, the old wind chimes hung in the corner of the courtyard. "Use all of your senses. I probably smell pretty bad, for example."

He exhaled hard, about as close as he ever got to laughing.

"Put everything together into one big picture. Visualize. Then attack. Again." She backed up, and they began another round. He was still quick, but more measured this time. She positioned herself silently between him and the wind chimes; he paused, and found her, and she grinned, although no one would see it. His childhood had left him convinced that he was a dunce, but he was a respectably quick learner, Toph reflected. She'd taught many who were worse.

She led him on a merry chase all around the courtyard. One corner was lined with gravel, and Toph wondered if he'd noticed it. She had, of course, while doing a sweep of the place, but it might not be as obvious to someone who had saw with their eyes and not the earth. She leapt back onto it, reveling in the crunch beneath her feet. She didn't even bother to use earthbending to dampen the sound.

Zuko leapt forward to follow her, then yelped.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Are your tender baby feet having trouble?"

"No," he said, sullen. "I'm fine."

They zigzagged back towards the other side of the atrium, over dirt and a little grass, and one particularly big decorative boulder.

After forty minutes of practice, she was covered in sweat, and he probably was, too. "Ni-" she started.

His hand darted out towards her voice; Zuko caught her forearm and sunk low to the ground, sweeping her feet out from under her. She hit the earth with a thud that drove all the air out of her lungs, his body poised above hers.

"-ce work," she finished, when she got her breath back.

"Are we done for the day?" he asked, in entirely the wrong tone for sparring.

"If you want." Being under him changed her tone, too. Reaching out, she ran her hand down his chest. It was slick and wet. Well, now she was, too.

"Do you want me to keep the blindfold on?"

That was a new twist. "You trust me?" She raised her hand to cup the side of his face, her thumb swiping sweat away from his cheek.

" _You_ trust _me_ when you can't see."

"Yeah," she admitted, and smiled. "But you're not very good at being blind, and I'm not very good at being nice."

"We'll practice," he said.


	2. I

He was breathing hard, on the edge of a panic. Through the earth, she could get a closer read on his heartbeat, and she realized it wasn't a _bad_ panic. Far from it. In fact, he seemed to be _extremely_ into what she was doing.

Even though he was straining against the metal cables that bound him to the wall, trying to thrust into her hand, which had gone still on his erection. " _Really,_ Zuko?"

"J-just please, keep going, please…"

"When I feel like it." She closed her other fist, giving her cables a tug that jerked on his body from both ends.

He let out a shaky breath, flexing his fingers and gripping the smooth steel links that bound his hands together.

"You know, I've never used these naked before," Toph mused, still kneeling down between his legs. Her reels, one on each hip, whirred a little as she let more cord out of them, so that the gentle-but-firm tension on Zuko's hands and feet would stay the same as she moved. "The belt is pretty comfy once it warms up to my skin."

He was never any good at talking dirty. Once he was hard, language completely deserted him. "T-Toph…please…"

"It was your idea to be blindfolded," she reminded him. "And you said you'd be fine with doing whatever I wanted."

"Please…"

"What's the matter?" Rising, she brushed the back of her hand against the burned side of his face, intimately conscious of the way his entire body was quivering, trapped between her and the wall. Once she'd tied him up, the only times she'd touched him had been for pleasure, not pain; and yet he still twitched when her skin brushed against his. "You didn't expect me to do something like this?"

"Toph…" His voice was very small, faint.

"You can end this," she pointed out. "That's why we chose a safeword."

He fell stubbornly silent.

She shrugged. "If that's the way you want it." She took her time kissing the side of his neck, ligaments tensing beneath her lips, before she knelt down again. He was so sensitive that long, lazy licks and rubs on the least sensitive areas of his shaft sent him into a paroxysm of pleasure, writhing helplessly and crying out.

It was impossible for her not to smile against his overheated skin. She let him finish this time.


	3. Interlude II

Zuko studied himself in the mirror. With choppy bangs covering the left side of his face, it was harder to notice his scar; a casual glance wouldn't reveal it. There were plenty of people with scars in Yu Dao after the war, anyway, and everyone knew that the Firelord wore his openly, with pride.

The snob in him was a little disgusted with his clothes, though. Even Sokka wouldn't be caught dead in baggy, knee-length shorts and a shirt that had had its sleeves cut off, presumably by a dull knife, since the edges were frayed and uneven.

There was a commotion in the hallway. He looked up in time to see Toph burst out of the dressing room, radiant in gold and rusty browns. Her bangs were braided back, away from her face. It was disturbing how much of a change that made. "How do I look?" She shook out her mane, most of which hung down her back, ending past her waist.

"Different." Even in her official capacity as his wife, she preferred to dress down. The metal armor that she'd first made for contract police work had been a jumping-off point for her; she'd remade, refitted and refined it, and had someone match the colors to the headband Zuko had given her for their wedding. The court seemed to consider her armor and vaguely crown-like headwear an acceptable substitute for formal dress, so today was the first time he'd seen her willingly put on anything _traditional_ and enjoy it. "You look like you're having fun."

"Of course I am." Grinning broadly, she flopped onto a low divan beside the mirror. "Finally those fancy-lady manners I had hammered into me as a kid are going to be useful."

"Did you choose a name?"

"We should just pick really common Yu Dao names. Wait, what'd people call you when you were a tea waiter in Ba Sing Se? You couldn't've gone by Zuko. There were wanted posters everywhere."

"Li." Zuko frowned, turning away from the mirror. "I don't want to use Li again."

She was silent for a moment, clearly holding herself back from asking why. "Uh, how about Hiro? Kanto?"

"I like Kanto."

"Okay." She rubbed her chin and swung her leg off the edge of the divan as he watched, arms crossed. "I think I'll be Jaya."

"I've never met anyone named Jaya."

"Really? There's a fuck ton of them in Yu Dao. Maybe you really _don't_ visit this place enough."

"I'm sure you'll force me to remedy that," he said dryly, reaching down to clasp her hand and pull her up. She rose, and whether she intended it or not, swayed toward him; it was almost too slight to notice, and yet neither of them could resist falling into a warm, lingering kiss.

"Where are we going tonight?" he asked, a moment or an eternity later.

"I don't know, somewhere to eat, and then we can prowl around looking for trouble." With her arms around his waist, she pulled him close, heat building between their bodies.

"Trouble?" He could tell that his voice was vacant, but it was for good reason: his mind was focused on _not_ grinding himself against the soft curve of her hip.

"Yeah, like...pick a fight, maybe. I'm a spoiled rich girl. If someone insults me, can't I make my manservant fist fight 'em on the street?" she grinned.

"Sounds like no trouble at all, compared to fighting you," he murmured. She was short enough that he could see straight down her dress when she stood so close to him, and though she couldn't see where his eyes were pointed, he knew she'd be able to tell what he was thinking, anyway. Toph was insightful. And used earthbending at a level that could be considered cheating. "We should stay in. We could get into plenty of trouble here."

"We can get into trouble out there, too," Toph said playfully.

"Not the kind of trouble I-"

"Zuko." She put her hands on either side of his face, steadying him; he was happy to shut up and look at her. "I love you, but sometimes you're really dense. I'm saying we can fuck outside."

He blinked. "L-like, out in...in the training yard? Or in _town_?"

"Anywhere you want. We can get a room or just find an abandoned alley."

"Toph! We can't just-the Firel-"

"You're just Kanto tonight!" she interrupted again. "Kanto doesn't have to follow rules."

"Isn't it illegal to-" he stammered.

"I trained all of the police. I know where they don't go."

"What if someone sees-"

"I can feel when someone's coming, dumbass."

He was running out of excuses. Also, he was rock hard, and she was pressed against him, so he couldn't pretend he wasn't into it. "If I was a servant," he finally said, slowly, "I wouldn't dare make advances on my mistress."

Toph laughed, right in his face. "Yeah, well, if I was the kind of rich bitch to hire a servant to carry my stuff around town, I'd choose a sexy one I could bang. And I know you're lying, Zuko. You're really bad at it."

He had absolutely been lying. Why did he think it was a good idea to marry a human lie detector, again? "Okay, well...let's just start with dinner. All we've been doing is sparring and making love for two days now. It'll be nice to get out."

"Okay," she agreed. Smiling, she stepped away from him, giving his hand a squeeze. "Just dinner."

Even without the ability to detect lies, Zuko was pretty sure she was feeding him a line of bullshit.


	4. II

"Right here?" he hissed. "This is a terrible spot! For all we know, that guy is going to get his friends and come back and-"

"Who cares? I can tell if someone's coming, and we could fight fifty of that stupid dickweed if we needed to."

"What if someone hears us talking and-"

"You? Talking? During sex?" She arched a brow at him. "I wouldn't worry. It'd be unintelligible."

"I-I-I can talk dirty!" Only Zuko could pull off an indignant whisper.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"I can!"

"Look, we both know what's _really_ holding you back." She backed him up against the wall, raking her nails gently down his chest as she kissed him. The bruise on his jaw ached, but it was easy to ignore. "But you're a grown man, Kanto. So what if I'm your boss?" She grinned wickedly.

"F-fuck," he whispered against her lips, opening the front of his pants one-handed. "Fine."

They knew each others' bodies by heart now; even in the dark alley, where Zuko couldn't see very well, he didn't err. His hand slid up her leg as he flipped them around, pinning her between his body and the wall; with one hand gripping her ass, supporting her weight, and the other resting on the wall above her head, he drove into her hard and fast.

She shuddered and struggled not to moan, the swift pounding of his hips keeping her immobilized between him and solid stone. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and her hands wandered below his shirt, somehow finding his back before she began to completely lose herself in the pleasure, panting, her chest heaving against his. It had become such a habit to call out his name that she struggled to hold it back, unable in the heat of her passion to remember what stupid pseudonym he'd chosen. Hadn't she just used it? She leaned forward again to scrape her teeth delicately along his neck, earning a shudder from him, and whispered so quietly, so hotly against his ear. "Z…fuck…Kanto..."

"What'd you really hire me for?" he growled, low and demanding. "Was it this?"

She'd intended to make some flippant jokes about their false identities, but he'd just escalated their game to an interesting level: staying in character. "What if it was?" she hissed back, caressing his ear with her lips.

He was breathless, but somehow he kept up the indignant, demanding tone. "Maybe I need to teach you that I'm not your toy."

It certainly felt like he was, the way he pushed so far into her that her legs spread wide and there was a sweet, deep ache in her hips. "And how are you going to do that?" she challenged him, breathless herself.

"By making you _mine_." He ducked his head and half sucked, half bit the side of her neck. She whimpered below him, but he didn't relent, only nuzzling against her ear and gripping her ass harder.

When her pleasure peaked, her body constricting around him, he grabbed her hair at the back of her head, hard.

"That's right," he purred. "You can posture all you want, but you love being Kanto's pretty little fuck toy, don't you?"

"I've been with a king less demanding than you," she teased, lightheaded.

"Kings are too happy and complacent," he groaned back against her ear. "If you want to be fucked hard, you've gotta find yourself banished prince. They're great at talking dirty."

Her laughter eventually turned into a moan, and was immediately interrupted by his lips.


	5. Interlude III

Nestled in a perfect, warm coccoon of blankets and limbs, Toph was almost annoyed to be awoken by the tickle of breath on her neck. Unfortunately, once she was awake, she was _awake_ and alert.

"Good morning."

"Mmmm," Toph groaned.

"The sun's already rising," he murmured. "And so am I."

She had to laugh. "Really?"

He wrapped one strong arm around her, pulling her back against his chest. His hand ran down her side, pulling her hips back so that his cock pressed against the round curve of her ass. "Yeah," he whispered.

"Aren't you tired from last night, 'Kanto'?" she teased.

"Yeah," he said again. "But I can't resist you, my beautiful…um, employer."

"Jaya," she reminded him, laughing.

"Right, Jaya." He explored her neck with a feather-light touch of parted lips, and she sighed, surrendering to the sensation. "I think Kanto really loves her."

"No way," Toph grinned. "They're locked in a power struggle."

"Nah." He kissed her right behind the ear. " _She_ thinks it's a power struggle, but _he_ thinks that's just how people act when they're in love."

"Kanto is fucked up."

"A little. But what if Jaya started loving him back?"

"Oh, please, how would that happen, Sparky? She's bent on _using_ this employee of hers–"

"Yeah," he interrupted, "but think years down the road. One day she turns around and realizes that he's been there for her through everything, and she sees the way he looks at her adoringly, and–"

"Wait, wait, wait, Jaya's not blind? Why does she need a valet, then?"

"I don't know!" Zuko said. "You're blind, and you don't have a valet!"

"I don't need to carry packages around Yu Dao!"

"Okay, fine, Jaya is blind," he sighed. "So she notices the way he _sounds_ when he talks to her–"

"Exasperated," Toph grinned, "if he's anything like you."

"Shut up." He kissed her shoulder. "I'm losing my erection."

She snickered.

"Anyway, later on, I think they realize they've loved each other all along."

"And?"

"That's it."

"Is that your way of asking for slow, loving morning sex, Firelord Hotman?"

"Yeah." He sounded dejected.

"Wow." Grinning broadly, she turned over onto her back, still snug against him. "Just like that, your dirty talk skills– _whoosh_ –gone."

"We better make sure I still have my other skills," he whispered, slipping beneath the covers.


	6. III

**Note:** I always post chapters two at a time for Get Honor, one non-sexual and one sexual. So if you don't want to miss out on the banter between the sex, don't skip to the latest update, read the one before it too!

* * *

If she'd thought being snuggled in a warm bed was the best feeling ever, she'd been wrong, she decided. Dead wrong.

Being snuggled in a warm bed with Zuko kneeling between her legs, shamelessly laving her with his tongue, was _so_ much better. He certainly hadn't lost that skill; licking and sucking and ever-so-gently nibbling, he toyed with her clit with infuriating patience. He was in no rush, even when her hips involuntarily bucked upwards, her fingers and toes curling in the sheets.

"More," she begged, breathless. "Faster!"

He slowed down.

"Zuko," she whined, "please! F-faster!"

"Mm-mm," he rumbled, denying her. It felt even better when his deep voice made those low, delicious vibrations.

"Zuko," she whimpered again, tangling her fingers in his hair and grinding her hips up against his face.

It was so easy to forget how strong he was, sometimes. He was usually so gentle. Now, he gripped her wrists and pushed them back, his forearms resting across her hips to control them, forcing them down.

Locked in place, there was nothing to do but feel each slow, languorous touch, each brush of his lips or tongue or teeth. She slowly throbbed and spasmed harder and harder until she thought she'd burst with the sensation. Until she lost all sense of time and place and touch and she finally climaxed.

Everything was a brilliant confusion of joy.


	7. Interlude IV

"I don't know, Toph," he said. "It's kind of weird."

"Come on, tell me!" she leaned against him, bumming off his heat as they relaxed beside the fountain in the atrium. "Just whisper it."

His voice was barely higher than the nighttime sounds of crickets and running water. "I'm not going to be able to look you in the eyes after I say it."

"So? I can't ever look you in the eyes. What's your point?"

He sighed. "Okay, well, in, um, in…back in the day…before the Hundred Year War…and I guess during…well, until my grandfather's time…"

"Yes?"

"There were all those rooms in the center of the palace, you know, and they, um, they had…the…"

"The Firelord's, like, ten wives," Toph guessed. "Yeah, 'fraid not, buddy. You only get one. Move on to the next fantasy."

"No, no, no, no!" he stammered. "That's not–"

She could tell he was blushing furiously, and she put her hands on his face to feel the heat, laughing quietly. "I know, Zuko. Go on."

He slipped his arm around her waist before he went on, as if for reassurance. "It's just that…I guess if you want me to try being dominant, I should go by what the book says."

"The…wait, what?"

"The book. You know, the book, the…the um…it's a manual for, um, I guess it's just for nobility, because the only copies are in the royal archives, and it was part of the last year course at the Royal Fire Academy–"

"Back up, Zuko, way way way back. The Fire Nation has a how-to-fuck manual?"

"Well–that's not what it's called, but–"

" _Wow_. I have so many more questions, but we'll circle back later. So what part of the book are you thinking of?"

"It talks about…being with women, especially foreign women who, um…Toph, I don't know. This is really dark."

"We don't have to do it," she promised, unwontedly gently. "But I still want to hear what it is."

He nodded, but took a long moment to gather his thoughts before he went on. "There were a lot of arranged marriages," he explained, "and wives who didn't really want to be there, so the manual explains how to…make them…want to be there," he finished lamely.

"Are you going to be able to talk about this calmly? Or should you just give me some basic instructions and we jump into things?" she went on, laughing. "I'm alright with that. We have a safeword if something I'm not into comes up."

He was uncomfortably silent.

"What is it?" running her fingertips along his jawline, she listened to his breathing. "You can tell me anything, you know."

"It's dark," he whispered. "I don't want to giv–I don't like to act that way, but if you want it–"

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Leaning up, she kissed his lips gently, his skin a little drier than hers. "If you're not into it, I'm not into it. But we're not really talk about sex anymore, are we?"

"Wh…"

"You're talking about the darkness you think you have inside. That anger that crops up sometimes."

"Toph, how–"

"I'm a good guesser," she smiled. "That frustration is still inside you, just the slightest bit, right?"

"Yeah," he breathed.

"You hold it back really well now, but you kind of want to let loose and be that angry, arrogant boy again, just a little…?"

"Sometimes," he whispered.

"Well." Sliding onto his lap, she touched the side of his face, pushing loose strands of hair behind his ear. "Unless you're afraid you'll be totally out of control, I think this is a great way to express that frustration. It's just roleplaying. You won't really be doing anything I wouldn't want. In fact, I'm kind of excited to see how you act," she grinned, tracing a fingertip down his neck to his chest.

He swallowed. "But…don't take anything I say seriously, or…or think that I really think those things."

"I never would," she promised, leaning up to nuzzle into his neck. "And you've got to promise not to take anything I say seriously, either."

"O-of course."

"It's just acting. We can talk a little bit about how we picture our roles…yeah. Really…really sexy acting."

"Toph, you don't even know what I'm thinking of doing. What if–"

"I can kind of guess," she murmured. "And I'm already _really_ into it."

"Of course you are," he said wearily.


	8. IV

He reached down to tilt her chin up. She thought he'd be gentle, but he gripped hard, jerking her face up towards his.

"Beautiful." His voice was as deep and raspy as ever, but it was short and curt, the word ending bluntly instead of rolling into a murmur and a kiss. "Stand."

She obeyed. He used a single finger to move her arms out of the way of his inspection, and somehow he made each gesture an insult.

"Do you understand why you're here?"

"Yes," she murmured, turning her face demurely downwards.

"Yes, _what?_ " he hissed. "From now on, you address me with respect, as 'your highness,' 'Prince Zuko,' 'Crown Prince,' 'master,' or 'my lord.' Understand?"

( _"Time out, time out," she whispered. "Not Firelord?"_

 _"No–Toph, you have to say the safeword if you want a time out, you can't just stop in the middle of the scene."  
_

 _"Okay, my mistake, but why not 'Firelord'?"  
_

 _"I–well, when I–um–when I used to imagine this–I was supposed to be married when I was seventeen, and I didn't think my dad would die, so I just–I pictured being called Prince Zuko."_

 _"That's cute, in a kinda fucked up way. Okay, time in.")_

The prince exhaled, and she could feel the heat of his breath as he refocused himself.

"Yes, Prince Zuko," she murmured. "I came here to be your wife."

"You came here to _serve me_. And what do you think that entails?" standing so close behind her that his clothes brushed against the bare skin and flimsy silk chiffon that separated them, he wrapped one arm around her hips and the other around her breasts, his hand gripping one hard, rolling her nipple between his knuckles.

"It–ah!" she gasped.

"Answer me," he growled.

"D-doing anything you ask?" she stammered. "I don't know, your highness."

"Obedience is required whether or not you serve me directly." His fingertips were skilled at the roll-and-squeeze motion that made her nipples sore and hard. "No, your service to me includes three things."

"What are they, my lord?"

He nuzzled the side of her neck, scraping his teeth along as he kissed it. "Mmh. You will fuck me when I say, how I say, where I say. You will be the perfect companion at my side in front of guests. You will bear me children quickly and often."

"That's five things," she whispered.

"You're a slave, not an accountant."

"Yes, your highness." She was impressed that he stayed in character.

"Now–" there was a rustle of paper, and then silk. "Get on…yes, get on your knees."

( _"Are you fucking kidding me? Are you reading out of a book right now?"_

 _"You can't time out whenever you want, Toph!"_

 _"Are. You. Reading out of. A book. Right now."  
_

 _"I forgot what comes next."  
_

 _"You f–what?"  
_

 _"You have to be in a specific pos–look, just trust me! Yes, I'm looking at a book, but I need to, in order to do this right! TIME IN!–")  
_

"–Get on your knees. Now."

She knelt down on the marble floor, chilled through the flimsy red lingerie she was wearing. Even the color and symbolism of the outfit declared her property of the Fire Nation.

The prince knelt behind her, huffing out an irritated breath. She could feel something wrap around her wrists–rope, silken soft, but still rope. Her breath caught in her throat. She'd had no idea.

"In the Fire Nation, nearly everything is elevated to an art form," the prince said quietly. Deft fingers tied a knot, and then he passed the remaining rope between her legs, drawing it up the center of her cleft, up her stomach, her chest. "Even this has a thousand different variations, all intended for beauty and pleasure."

( _The book made more sense now._ )

"What happens when I'm all tied up, Prince Zuko?"

"I'll satisfy your curiosity if I feel like it," he said, "and not before. Silence."

So she waited.


	9. Interlude V

__"_ So you really want to try it?"_

 _"Of course I do. I love trying new things."  
_

 _"But…this? Even after I read you the chapter about…?"  
_

 _"Yes, even this." A breathless laugh. "Why?_ _Are you not into this anymore?"_

 _"I…n-no, I'm into it. I'm…I'm very into it. But are you sure you want to cross this line? I won't hold back."  
_

 _"Yes, I'm sure. I want to fuck Mean And Nasty Zuko, so get back to being him. You can go back to being Normal Sweet And Caring Zuko afterwards."_

 _"Okay, but…you don't have to hold back, either, if…if you want to…get me angry, or whatever. It's…it's in character, so…you can do whatever you want. I'll know you don't mean it. It's roleplay."_

 _"I know."  
_

 _"You remember the safeword?"_

 _"Yes, Sparky, I remember the safeword, I'm sure, I'm ready, I promise, I love you, let's do this."_


	10. V

The elaborate weave of rope and rings kept the princess immobilized, bent over the side of the bed. Her hands were high over her head, bound together skillfully at the wrist: tight enough to keep her from moving, but not so tight that it restricted blood flow. She was comfortable…for now.

Other than the raw feeling between her legs where the rope had been for an hour before he'd partially unwrapped it to fuck her. She was still dripping with both of their fluids, and it made her shift her legs, her slick thighs rubbing together. They couldn't move far, because she was bound at the ankles, too.

"Stop moving." His voice was quietly commanding, as if the idea she might disobey had never occurred to him. She was his, after all; there to serve him. "What's the matter? Too wet?"

"Yes, Prince Zuko."

He leaned over her back, his long hair trailing over her bare skin. "I agree," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. "I don't like you losing so much of my seed, and you'll have to be punished for it before I fill you up again."

She shivered at the harshness of the promise. _Craved_ it. "I understand."

"You understand…?"

 _Of course._ "I understand, your highness."

"I don't like being disrespected." She heard a rustling sound, like silk being pulled over something smooth, and then she felt the cool weight of a multi-tailed flogger against her ass. "Do you feel this?"

"Yes, Prince Zuko."

( _She remembered from the book that they were mild and good for beginners. Did he have to tell someone to fill the cabinet with whips and paddles before they left? Did his steward, that soft-spoken old man, have to order them? She couldn't really imagine Zuko being able to request all these things without getting massively embarrassed._ )

The contact he made was hardly a strike at all, just a haphazard, painless slide of the many leather tails against her skin. "Get a feel for how long it is. How heavy. How flexible." He drew it gently up between her legs, making her twitch as the friction dragged on her sensitive labia. "Aching for me to fuck you again?" he murmured.

"Yes, Prince Zuko," she whispered, strained.

"You'll get it, once you've been punished." He spun it in his hand, gentle slaps hitting the backs of her thighs in succession.

( _She knew he was starting light to gauge her reaction, but what did he expect, that she'd have delicate baby skin? She was Toph fucking Beifong._ )

"First, you'll get three hard strikes for forgetting what to call me. What do you think of that?"

She could have been obedient, but some instinct told her _not_ to be. Not this time. Her voice was deceptively demure and low. "Will they really be hard, or is that another empty Fire Nation threat?"

"Why don't you tell me?" he hissed. The first one came down hard enough to sting for maybe half a second, if that.

"That was nothing," she hissed back, " _your highness._ "

"Stubborn brat." It made a satisfying smack the second time it hit, but it was still mild.

"I thought you were supposed to be _strong_."

"You're going to pay for saying that," he snarled, abandoning the flogger altogether. She heard it hit the ground as he tossed it aside. "You're going to learn your place." Without warning, his hand came down on her, and she ground her teeth to keep from crying out. The stinging imprint remained. His other hand delicately cupped her throat, gentle but threatening, as he spanked her again, harder. "What about that?"

She expelled the breath she'd been holding in one surprised sigh.

"You've forgotten my title twice more," he murmured, stroking her neck with his thumb. "That means you've got seven more strikes…if you don't err again." The next slap was a little harder, and when he rubbed the spot he'd struck afterwards, the tingling seemed to spread. On the fourth, she finally whimpered.

"Do you still think I'm weak?" he whispered, leaning over so that his lips brushed her ear and his hair trailed along her bare skin again.

Two branching paths lie before her: submission and rebellion. ( _If this was an arranged marriage, and my parents sold me to the completely unreformed prince of the Fire Nation?_ ) There was only one path she could take. "Everyone does! Isn't that why your father banished you?"

" _Tu Zin._ "

"Zuko, you can't safeword. _You're_ supposed to be hurting _me_."

"Well, I'm doing it." He leaned over her, pulling on one of the loose ends of rope lying over the edge and releasing both her wrists all at once. What a useful kind of knot. The man knew how to follow directions out of a book, she'd give him that.

"You _said_ we were in _character_ ," she pointed out. "To say whatever I wanted to get you angry."

He sighed as he released her ankles. "I know, but…"

"You know I didn't mean it." She turned around to sit on the bed, rubbing the marks out of her wrists and ankles.

"Yeah, I do." She heard him putting away everything they'd used, closing drawers and opening the wardrobe. The rustle of fabric; he was throwing some of his clothes over the end of the bed, putting them on one at a time. "I'm just not in the mood anymore."

"Come on, don't be like this." She reached out in his direction, but only brushed her fingertips against his sleeve before he pulled away.

"I'll be back in a while."

She didn't stop him from leaving. When she curled up under the covers, she felt empty inside.


	11. Interlude VI

He was still gone an hour later. Two hours. (She cried.) Three hours.

At three and a half, she slid out of bed, finding a robe to wrap around her naked body. He wasn't anywhere in the house or surrounding yard. She took a blanket out to the atrium and sat down on the edge of the fountain, still sniffling.

They'd been having so much fun until they weren't.

Maybe it was just too intense for Zuko. It was a moronic idea, really. She thought it would be therapeutic, help him work out leftover frustration, but instead it had just upset his peace of mind.

What hurt was his _leaving_. No matter what was happening, he should have felt comfortable enough to stay with her. Was she bullying him? Or would it be bullying to insist he stay? Was she right to let him leave? She raked her hands through her hair.

In spite of the fact that it was just roleplay, and she knew it was all an act, going from being berated and smacked to being completely alone felt _awful_. It made her feel like complete garbage. Maybe she just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing. Maybe she was too hardhearted, too brittle to bend to his will. Maybe she wasn't cut out for a relationship, either–maybe she hurt him too much.

She couldn't sleep. She was exhausted by the time he walked in at dawn, walking right past her in the dark and going to their bedroom. "Toph?" She heard concern in her voice when he didn't find her there. That was nice.

"I'm out here."

"Hey," he said, rounding the corner.

"Hey." She pulled her blanket closer around herself.

"Why are you out here?" He sat down beside her, a distance away.

She didn't want to stay in that room without him. "Dunno. Felt like it." She sniffled. She hadn't cried so much in years. "Where did you go?"

"I walked down to the shore."

"That's _miles_ away." Why had he felt the need to flee miles from her?

"I needed to think," he said, as if that explained a damn thing. "I'm sorry."

Toph wasn't quite ready to forgive him. "You want to share your thoughts?"

He sighed, leaning his head back against the stone. "It…it wasn't what we were doing," he murmured, "or what you said." He extended his hand to her, and she only hesitated for a moment before putting her hand in his. "Not exactly. It's just…when you brought up…"

He was struggling for words. "Being banished?" she guessed. She ran her thumb over his knuckles.

"No," he interrupted. "No, my…my father. For some reason, I never realized it before, but…when I was sent away, I…started acting like him. I guess…Azula always acted like him, and I always acted like Mom. And after I was burned, I decided that acting like her didn't work…that I'd only succeed if I became like my father…so I…" He trailed off.

Toph swallowed, listened.

" _Everything_ about me at that age was modeled after him." He let out a shaky breath. "When I realized that, I…I obviously couldn't keep going."

That explained the panic. Toph took a deep breath. "I get that," she said gently, squeezing his hand. "But it felt horrible when you left. I…" She didn't want to admit that she'd cried. "I wish you'd told me what was going on. I would have understood, Zuko. Even if you didn't want to be around anyone, if you'd just told me where you were going, it wouldn't have been so bad."

"I know," he said, turning towards her fully. "And I…hey, I'm really sorry." His free hand cupped her face, his thumb wiping away a tear. "Are you _crying?_." He leaned in to kiss her cheek, and she knew his lips went away wet. "Toph, I'll find a way to make it up to you. Anything you want."

"I don't want anything," she muttered. "You made me feel like trash."

"Toph…" He pulled her into his lap, cradling her against his chest. "I love you so much. I love you more than I thought anyone _could_ love their wife. You could never be anything less than the most precious person in my life. And I'm sorry I didn't show you that tonight. I'm sorry I acted like–like–"

"A shithead," she suggested. She could feel the corners of her lips twitching upwards.

"A shithead," he agreed. "Please forgive me."

She leaned against his chest, tucking her ear against him so she could listen to his heartbeat. Anxious. "I love you too," she whispered. "And I forgive you, but Zuko, you need to _tell_ me if I bully you into something you don't want to do. I guess…my love is kind of clumsy."

"You didn't push me into anything," he whispered back. "I wanted it. I'm…just…still a broken person, in some ways. Tonight was an accident, not a mistake."

Closing her eyes, she nodded against his chest. His heartbeat was calmer now, the soothing rhythm she'd grown used to having beside her every night. "Let's go inside."

"Okay," he murmured. "And tomorrow, I swear, I'll make it up to you."


End file.
